VSE’s Policy Work 2026 Explained: The Real Impact You Don’t Always See
The VSE Policy Team is constantly working in the background to ensure we are raising awareness on Victims’ Rights in the EU and across the globe. The Team does so through a multitude of methods, be it meeting with key stakeholders, the development and sharing of petitions, writing victim-centred evidence-based knowledge products, as well as the creation of key recommendations that are submitted to the European Commission’s call for evidence on the ‘Have your say’ platform.
2026 has already seen the Team busy developing submissions to the Commission. These submissions call for the strengthening of victims’ rights across EU legislative files and strategies. Millions of people living in the EU become victims of crimes each year, the EU cannot risk ignoring these victims.
Detailed below are the summaries of the pieces submitted so far:
Lead author: Efthymis Antonopoulos, Support: Paula Peralta Agustí
Online fraud constitutes one of the most significant and rapidly evolving security threats in the European Union, yet its human impact remains frequently underestimated. Crimes such as identity fraud, relationship and trust fraud (including romance scams), consumer fraud, investment fraud, sextortion and grooming rely heavily on psychological manipulation, coercion and deception.
Victims are often targeted within the perceived safety of their own homes, which increases their vulnerability and deepens the sense of betrayal and isolation. The consequences extend far beyond financial loss: many victims experience profound psychological harm, including shame, self-blame, anxiety, and social withdrawal, with impacts in some cases comparable to those experienced in situations of domestic abuse. Shame, often exacerbated by societal stigma or dismissive responses, remains a key driver of underreporting, secondary victimisation and repeat targeting.
Online fraud is inherently cross-border, frequently affecting large numbers of victims across multiple jurisdictions. Investigations are complex due to the global scale of operations, the volume of digital evidence, and the involvement of organised criminal networks.
Lead authors: Paula Peralta Agustí and Áine Hanrahan, Support: Efthymis Antonopoulos
In March 2021, the European Commission adopted the European Disability Strategy 2021-2030 to promote equal opportunities and full inclusion of persons with disabilities. Unfortunately, despite improvements in EU legislation, structural gaps prevail, especially for persons with disabilities who experience victimisation. These gaps are detrimental to the well-being and recovery of victims with disabilities.
Accessibility barriers, inadequate procedural safeguards, and limited specialised support undermine people with disabilities participation in criminal proceedings, accessing support services, and weaken the protection of fundamental rights. Strengthening rights for victims with disabilities requires fully accessible, trauma-informed, and intersectional justice systems.
Without acting and improving on the existing frameworks, closing the gaps in support and justice services, and improving the implementation of the relevant legislative file, victims with disabilities will continue being left behind. Through supporting the Strategies implementation, particularly for those with intersectional vulnerabilities, protecting victims is essential not only for rights but also for trust in institutions and democratic resilience.
Lead author: Chrysanthi Materi, Support: Efthymis Antonopoulos and Áine Hanrahan
Trafficking in human beings is a grave violation of human rights that strikes at the core of human dignity, freedom, and equality. Trafficking encompasses the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or reception of persons through coercion, deception, abuse of power, or abuse of a position of vulnerability for the purpose of exploitation. This definition reflects the reality that trafficking is not a single act, but a process of control and exploitation that can occur across borders or entirely within one country, harming and violating a persons autonomy and well-being. The increasing use of digital means to commit this crime creates a difficult environment to track, support and prosecute this form of violence.
Recent data confirms both the scale and the evolving nature of the crime. The 2022 European Union (EU) statistics show a 20.5 percent increase in the number of registered victims, rising from 7,155 to 10,093, with non-EU citizens representing the majority of identified victims.2 Sexual exploitation remains the most prevalent form of trafficking, accounting for almost half of all cases, disproportionately affecting women and girls. 3 At the same time, trafficking for labour exploitation continues to grow and now represents more than one third of all cases, primarily affecting men. 4 These trends underline the need for responses that address the full spectrum of exploitation, rather than focusing on a single form.
Collaborative efforts
The VSE Policy Team works closely with many EU-level NGOs as part of our advocacy efforts in centring victims across EU and International legislative files and initiatives. This year, VSE collaborated with Missing Children Europe in a Joint Input for the Report of the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking on the Rights of Migrant, Refugee, Asylum-seeking and Stateless Children Who Are Victims of Trafficking or at Risk of Trafficking in Persons.
This input detailed current trends in forms and manifestations of trafficking affecting migrant, refugee, asylum-seeking and stateless children. Traditional forms of trafficking in human beings persist, including sexual exploitation, forced labour, forced begging and domestic servitude. At the same time, the rapid expansion of digital technologies has significantly transformed both recruitment methods and forms of exploitation. These developments disproportionately affect impacted children, who are often exposed to intersecting vulnerabilities linked to displacement, insecurity, poverty, disrupted family ties and social isolation.
These collaborative efforts are essential. By joining forces, civil society organisations amplify their collective voice, strengthen evidence-based advocacy, and ensure that the rights and protection of the most vulnerable children remain firmly on the international agenda.
The EU must act
Each of our submissions come with a list of recommendations that we call for the EU to incorporate into their bodies of work, mainstreaming and centring victims across key thematic areas. Detailed below are general overviews of the types of recommendations the Policy Team put forward, typically tailored to the subject of the call.
- Respect, Recognition and Dignity – Victims must be recognised and centred as rights-holders. At every stage of proceedings, support and policy implementation, they must be heard, treated with dignity, and supported in their recovery.
- Early and Unconditional Access to Support – Victims must have timely access to free, accessible, and specialised support services, regardless of their background or status. Information and assistance must be accessible, inclusive and responsive to intersectional needs.
- Protection and Safety – Victims often experience shame, isolation, and fear that are frequently exacerbated by victim-blaming attitudes. Effective protection measures, trauma-informed approaches, and recognition of specific protection needs are essential to prevent secondary and repeat victimisation.
- Access to Justice and Remedies – Victims must have meaningful access to justice, including free legal aid, procedural safeguards, special protection measures, and realistic opportunities to obtain compensation and remedies.
- Participation and Informed Consent – Victims must be fully informed and able to participate in proceedings affecting them, with ongoing informed consent and support throughout the process.
- Professional Training and Capacity Building – Comprehensive and specialised training for law enforcement, judiciary, and support professionals is essential to ensure sensitive handling of cases and improve victims’ experiences within victim-related systems.
- Strong Referral Systems and Coordination – Effective cross-sector coordination is critical. A whole-of-society approach, engaging public authorities, civil society, consumer platforms, financial institutions, and social media companies, can improve prevention, early identification, and support pathways.
- Prevention and Accountability – Prevention must be embedded across EU strategies through awareness-raising, strengthened consumer protection, and public–private cooperation. Victim support mechanisms must also be integrated into emergency responses, ensuring accountability and long-term resilience.
These are not just policy recommendations; they are essential ways to create long-lasting recovery for victims of crime.
